A former New Jerseyan whose two brothers are serving in Iraq has disappeared in Taos, N.M., less than a month after he moved there to be near his mother.

Rory DiPalma, 25, was last seen 10 p.m. Wednesday, after he left a Christmas party for employees of Ogelvie’s Cafe to meet some friends at a local bar.

“Here I was worrying about my other sons back in Iraq, and it’s Rory who’s turned up missing,” said Frank DiPalma of Ridgewood, N.J., the father of the missing man.

“I just don’t understand. He just disappeared.”

The senior DiPalma, whose sons Ryan and Kevin are in Iraq, said he fears his son has fallen victim to foul play

“He made no mention of leaving town, and we have ruled out suicide and anything like that,” he said.

“He just got another job here, and he was happy to be in the area.”

In addition to waiting tables at the café, young DiPalma was working as a concert promoter for Enchanted Productions and was slated to begin work as a snowboard instructor at Angel Fire, a ski resort 26 miles from Taos.

New Mexico State Police said they’ve found no sign of Rory DiPalma’s 2002 Infiniti SUV.

They also said there’s been no activity on his credit, ATM or debit cards since he vanished.

“We’ve conducted an aerial search over mostly all of Taos County and have conducted a ground search along main roads and campgrounds,” said State Police Sgt. Carlos Martinez.

Co-workers from Ogelvie’s helped in the search, said café manager Annie Riebli.

“A group of people who know his mom and some us from the restaurant organized a search and rescue – each of us checked out a different part of the area,” she said.

“We went up and down some of the little roads, but we didn’t come up with anything,” she said.

Riebli said she trained DiPalma when he started working at the café three weeks ago.

“He’s a really sweet kid,” she said, adding that he fit in well at the popular tourist restaurant on bustling Taos Plaza.

A police spokesman said DiPalma is classified as a missing person, and that at this point foul play is not suspected.

A reward was offered for information about his whereabouts.With Post Wire Services